Science and Space Dates Quiz
Nearly five centuries in thirty seven questions, and they are not evenly spread. Half of this set falls after 1950, which is itself the most interesting fact in it.
Loading the quiz…
The acceleration is the story
Lay this set out on a timeline and the shape is unmistakable. From Copernicus in 1543 to Newton's Principia in 1687 is 144 years with almost nothing in between. From Newton to Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859 is another 172. Then the gaps collapse: the telephone in 1876, the light bulb in 1879, the rabies vaccine in 1885, the petrol automobile in 1886, X-rays in 1895, transatlantic radio in 1901, special relativity in 1905.
By the second half of the twentieth century the set is dense enough that questions become genuinely hard, because the options are only a few years apart. DNA's structure in 1953, Sputnik in 1957, the laser in 1960, Gagarin in 1961, the Moon landing in 1969: five landmark events inside sixteen years.
This matters practically. In the early part of the set you can be a century out and still eliminate three options. After about 1950 you need to be right to within a few years, which means you need a genuine memory rather than a plausible inference.
The space age compresses further than people expect. Sputnik went up in 1957. Gagarin flew in 1961, four years later. Humans walked on the Moon in 1969, eight years after that. Twelve years separate the first artificial object in orbit from a crewed landing on another world. Nothing else in this set moves at that pace, and the compression is why so many people misdate the intermediate steps.
The eras in the set
| Era | What is in it | Typical option spacing |
|---|---|---|
| 1543 to 1804 | Copernicus, Newton, the Montgolfier balloon, Trevithick’s locomotive | Decades or centuries; very forgiving |
| 1859 to 1905 | Darwin, Bell, Edison, Pasteur, Benz, Rontgen, Marconi, Einstein | Around a decade |
| 1928 to 1969 | Penicillin, DNA, Sputnik, the laser, Gagarin, Apollo | A few years; the hardest stretch |
| 1977 to 2003 | Voyager, smallpox eradicated, the Shuttle, Hubble, Dolly, the Human Genome Project | A few years |
| 2006 to 2021 | Pluto reclassified, the LHC, Curiosity, the Higgs boson, Perseverance, Webb | Two to three years; needs real recall |
Three dates worth learning properly
1928, penicillin. Alexander Fleming noticed the mould, but the date people misplace is the gap between discovery and use. Penicillin was not developed into a usable drug until the early 1940s, more than a decade later, which is why questions about it can feel wrong whichever way you answer. This set asks about the discovery.
1980, smallpox. The World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, the only human disease ever eliminated. Most people place it considerably earlier, probably because the last naturally occurring case was in 1977 and vaccination in wealthy countries had stopped long before that.
2006, Pluto. The International Astronomical Union's reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet is recent enough that a large share of players remember it happening, and that memory is usually mis-dated by several years in either direction. It is the clearest example in the set of an event you can recall clearly and still get wrong.
The set today
Thirty seven questions ending in 2021 with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope and the landing of Perseverance on Mars. The recent entries are the ones most likely to need updating as missions continue, and any correction we make is published on our release notes page. For the neighbouring topics, try technology and history.
Frequently asked questions
What is the hardest period for science dates?
Roughly 1928 to 1969. Penicillin, DNA, Sputnik, the laser, Gagarin and Apollo all fall inside about forty years, so the four options in a question are usually only a few years apart and inference stops helping.
When was smallpox eradicated?
1980, when the World Health Organization made the declaration. It is the only human disease ever eradicated. Most people guess earlier, because the last naturally occurring case was in 1977.
How long was it from Sputnik to the Moon landing?
Twelve years. Sputnik launched in 1957, Gagarin flew in 1961 and humans walked on the Moon in 1969. That compression is why the intermediate steps are so often misdated.
What is the oldest event in this set?
Copernicus publishing his argument that the Earth orbits the Sun, in 1543. The most recent is 2021.
More Guess the Year sets
- History73 events from Columbus to the invasion of Ukraine, and how to build the timeline that makes them guessable.
- Technology52 dates from IBM in 1911 to ChatGPT in 2022, and why founding years feel later than they are.
Guess the Year Trivia guides How we source our answers All games